Wow! i7 950 is only $179.99!

SixFootDuo said:
As has already been noted by Kyle and Co. along with many others, buying a i7 920 / 930 / 950 now doesn't make any sense. So what, big deal? You're saving $100 .... And?

With the new Intel and AMD cpu's nearly out, does saving $100+ dollars on buying 3+ year old tech validate this? Absolutely not.

Only people who do not think things through make decisions like this. I can't believe people are actually wasting time and energy going over 3+ year old tech to try and justify this discussion.

Steps: 1 ) Save your money. 2 ) Save more money. 3) Some even more money.

Start now.

All you really need is a motherboard and cpu. Hard to say what Intels price is going to be on the new CPU's. AMD's Bulldozer should come in at $300 to $400 dollars. A motherboard, another $350 to $400. So a good estimate is save around $800 dollars. If you're a highschooler with limited funds, or a man who is controlled by his woman, then this doesn't apply to you. Continue to use what you have I guess.
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P67 chipsets still have kinks. They don't seem to work properly with my soundcard, which I'm not getting rid of or swapping out.

The only reason I'd wait now is to see if they get some issues worked out, or to see how Bulldozer performs.
 
SixFootDuo said:
cold deal IMHO. Taking into account most people who own x58 boards already have at least the 920, it just doesn't make sense. Factor in new cpu's, chipsets on the horizon and this deal becomes ice cold. Have patience and save your money. You will thank me later.
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Not. This is a great deal for the reasons I posted earlier in this thread.
 
The original i7 CPUs which are based on architecture released in November of 2008 still holds up pretty well and for the performance you simply can't beat the prices MC is charging.

The 2600k will trump the i7 950 or 960 in almost every application. And it should because its a newer architecture and it carries a premium price over these chips. X58 is a mature platform, newer boards offer all of the bells and whistles of the P67 boards, and between the motherboard and CPU it packs in additional features not available with the newer chips and motherboards. A mature chipset that didn't just go through a massive recall is reason enough for some people to avoid P67.

Whether or not any of the above have a real world impact on what most of us use our computers for is debatable, but what is not debatable is that at these prices the 950 and 960 are a great deal for those looking for bang for your buck performance or a CPU upgrade.

It doesn't make sense for me and probably most people to make a purchase, but I'm sure there are people out there who it does make sense for.
 
I have not tried vt-d myself robster I meant more for you to look into it because its a good score if you can work with that board.

As for the CPU yeah the deal is ice cold, the problem is I have this exact setup a 950 x58 system and I purchased a 2500K plus mobo for about the same price you can get any X58 combo for. The 2500K out performs the 950. Both are over clocked. When the hex core CPUs or higher have some crazy sales that might be warm but for now for most people there is nothing interesting left in x58. Right now you can buy into 1155 get better performance and not be buying into an EOL platform. And you do not have to wait at all for anything 1155 is out and ready.
 
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JCNiest5 said:
We are not here to debate whether it's still a good idea to buy the first gen i7 or not. Get that in your mind...geez. It's a great price, considering how the price has come down since its launch day so this just makes it a great deal for those that still have X58 boards and want to upgrade their CPU if they so choose to.
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^That...

Its ridiculous that just about every thread turns in to a pissing match of people's opinions on why the product is inferior to another and most of the time is simply a matter of opinion/personal preference. The point of the DEALs section is to post good deals, not argue about what you think someone should buy.

There are other threads for those types of discussions. If you want to start a 1st gen i7 vs 2nd gen i5/i7 thread under the appropriate sections then go for it, but leave that damn pissing matches out the deals sections.
 
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masterosok said:
^That...

Its ridiculous that just about every thread turns in to a pissing match of people's opinions on why the product is inferior to another and most of the time is simply a matter of opinion/personal preference. The point of the DEALs section is to post good deals, not argue about what you think someone should buy.

There are other threads for those types of discussions. If you want to start a 1st gen i7 vs 2nd gen i5/i7 thread under the appropriate sections then go for it, but leave that damn pissing matches out the deals sections.
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+1 I couldn't have said it better.
 
masterosok said:
^That...

Its ridiculous that just about every thread turns in to a pissing match of people's opinions on why the product is inferior to another and most of the time is simply a matter of opinion/personal preference. The point of the DEALs section is to post good deals, not argue about what you think someone should buy.

There are other threads for those types of discussions. If you want to start a 1st gen i7 vs 2nd gen i5/i7 thread under the appropriate sections then go for it, but leave that damn pissing matches out the deals sections.
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Were discussing the deal and the value of the deal compared to newer offerings...and there isnt much opinion in this thread with the exception of people still touting x58. P67 is a better decision over x58, plain and simple.
 
nissanztt90 said:
Were discussing the deal and the value of the deal compared to newer offerings...and there isnt much opinion in this thread with the exception of people still touting x58. P67 is a better decision over x58, plain and simple.
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It is opinion whether this should be purchased over a SB setup. Better performance isn't always the determining factor. Someone purchasing this chip over a new motherboard and processor is their decision and its your opinion that they shouldn't. Maybe the difference in price isn't worth it to them, or they have other reasons. My point is this entire discussion should not be in the Deals section it should be in the Deals Discussion section.
 
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nissanztt90 said:
Were discussing the deal and the value of the deal compared to newer offerings...and there isnt much opinion in this thread with the exception of people still touting x58. P67 is a better decision over x58, plain and simple.
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Let me know how to get vt-d working on P67
Also let me know of the board selection that has P67 chipset and supports 6 dimms

There must be a way since P67 is a better decision right? right?
 
X58 chips are overclockable but not to the same levels as 1155 chips. If you get a K series it will fly.
I think it is fine to discuss the merits of a deal in the hot deals. As everyone has said you only buy this X58 if you are in a niche environment and certain things like virtualization or higher PCI-X throughput are of vital importance to you. If you dont know then it probably is not important to you.

The upgrade path hardly seems useful since the 950 is a lower end CPU it just does not seem like it makes any sense to drop $180 on this to upgrade from the 920 in any case. And moving from a 920 to a 950 is the best case scenario hardly any gain because if you do OC then you could do it on the 920 to get close. If they bring a hex core down to 200 then it starts to look interesting as an upgrade path for certain people who cannot wait for Q4.
 
Would it be worth it upgrading my AMD set up to this? Then again Bulldozers been getting some good press recently...Hmmmm.
 
nissanztt90 said:
Were discussing the deal and the value of the deal compared to newer offerings...and there isnt much opinion in this thread with the exception of people still touting x58. P67 is a better decision over x58, plain and simple.
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nissan, you gotta learn to be less obtuse. Rob has valid points, which may be insignificant reasons FOR YOU to get an X58 over P67, but not to him and possibly others (including myself) ;)
OP : Thanks for the deal - certainly is a nice price for a S-1366 quad. Personally, I'm waiting for S-2011 before budging but might not even then.
 
No, seriously, I appreciate the posting for this deal. Thank you. Surely this deal will appeal to people out there no doubt. I don't see a pissing contest at all. If there were, I am sure a mod would have stepped in by now. What I do see are valid concerns being raised as to if this is a hot deal, warm deal or cold deal, that's all. When deciding if this is a good deal or not you absolutely have to factor in all the variables. Please understand, HardOCP is largely community driven. Not only do I count on people helping me make the right decision, others here also count on people like me as well as the community at large to help them make the right decision when making a purchase. Do not take peoples words out of context and assume they are pissing on others. That is disrespectful to the process here and others honest attempt at helping. I won't rehash way logically this is a cold deal as the point has been fundamentally proven countless times. Again, thank you for the post. I am sure freshman, low budgeteers and novices alike will find this a hot deal.
 
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SixFootDuo said:
low budgeteers and novices alike will find this a hot deal.
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:rolleyes:

Or people that want to get some of that 25x multiplier and are perfectly happy with X58.


Bottom line is that this is a hot deal.

It's like the 2600K for $149.99.
 
masterosok said:
^That...

Its ridiculous that just about every thread turns in to a pissing match of people's opinions on why the product is inferior to another and most of the time is simply a matter of opinion/personal preference. The point of the DEALs section is to post good deals, not argue about what you think someone should buy.

There are other threads for those types of discussions. If you want to start a 1st gen i7 vs 2nd gen i5/i7 thread under the appropriate sections then go for it, but leave that damn pissing matches out the deals sections.
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This.

I picked one up. Couldn't pass it up at that price. I'm skipping Sandy anyways. For what I do X58 is still a very viable and not too shabby platform.
 
SonDa5 said:
:rolleyes:

Or people that want to get some of that 25x multiplier and are perfectly happy with X58.


Bottom line is that this is a hot deal.

It's like the 2600K for $149.99.
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Ahhh no, no it's not...
 
Alright...I've had enough of this stupid people bashing each other...

Mods, please close this thread.
 
JCNiest5 said:
Alright...I've had enough of this stupid people bashing each other...

Mods, please close this thread.
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:rolleyes:


For the benefit of the great deal mods please don't close this thread.

Not sure why there are so many haters of a good deal. :confused:
 
Rogue_Apprentice said:
This.

I picked one up. Couldn't pass it up at that price. I'm skipping Sandy anyways. For what I do X58 is still a very viable and not too shabby platform.
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Which one did you get?


Please create a thread once you get it set up. I'm very interested in seeing how one of these compares to the I7-930.
 
I appreciate all the debate in this thread and it has given me some insight, but I haven't seen any comments dealing with my specific situation. What would you all recommend for someone going with a brand new build? Due to unfortunate circumstances the past few months, I currently have NO computer at all. I am looking to build ASAP, within a month or so, so waiting for Intel or AMD's upcoming platforms isn't really an option for me.

I am in general leaning towards a Sandy Bridge platform, probably the 2600k. I like the price of the 2500k obviously, but I don't want to give up the hyperthreading. The only thing that gives me pause and consider socket 1366 is my upgrade options. From what I have read recently, there are no plans for 6-core releases on socket 1155, correct? From what I understand, the SB 2600k beats most of the current 1366 hex core chips, correct? If I went with 1366, I would go for a deal, probably one of the sale chips, 950 or whatever, that I can pick up for around $200. That would leave me an upgrade option down the road for a 6 core, which would be a definite upgrade over the 4-core.

But is this irrelevant anyways? Am I hearing that even the 2600k beats the socket 1366 hex-cores, correct? That is good news to me, but the lack of ANY upgrade options on socket 1155 is what makes me kinda sad and gives me pause. While it would certainly be more than enough power for me now, if the only planned upgrades for socket 1155 are faster clocked 4-core i7s, then there really is no upgrade path, as I will be overclocking.

It seems to me that if the new intel Ivy Bridge chips beyond 4-core will require a new socket, then socket 1155 is just as much a dead-end socket as 1366 is.

So, what should I do? I want to build ASAP, want something with at least some upgrade potential in the future, and as good of performance as possible. And my budget will allow for around $300 or so on a CPU in this build. Thanks!
 
koomba said:
I appreciate all the debate in this thread and it has given me some insight, but I haven't seen any comments dealing with my specific situation. What would you all recommend for someone going with a brand new build? Due to unfortunate circumstances the past few months, I currently have NO computer at all. I am looking to build ASAP, within a month or so, so waiting for Intel or AMD's upcoming platforms isn't really an option for me.
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If you need or want VT-D, the I7-950 or I7-960 will work with a hot deal on the price. 6 core deals on I7-970 can only be hoped for. The price on the I7-970 has dropped recently but it's still costly IMO. At least fast 32nm 6 cores are an option on the 1366.

If you don't need or want VT-D go 2500K or 2600k, both are solid and fast and provide alot of performance for the money. Key here is that you plan on using the multipliers to over clock to squeeze out maximum over clock performance.
 
koomba said:
I appreciate all the debate in this thread and it has given me some insight, but I haven't seen any comments dealing with my specific situation. What would you all recommend for someone going with a brand new build? Due to unfortunate circumstances the past few months, I currently have NO computer at all. I am looking to build ASAP, within a month or so, so waiting for Intel or AMD's upcoming platforms isn't really an option for me.

I am in general leaning towards a Sandy Bridge platform, probably the 2600k. I like the price of the 2500k obviously, but I don't want to give up the hyperthreading. The only thing that gives me pause and consider socket 1366 is my upgrade options. From what I have read recently, there are no plans for 6-core releases on socket 1155, correct? From what I understand, the SB 2600k beats most of the current 1366 hex core chips, correct? If I went with 1366, I would go for a deal, probably one of the sale chips, 950 or whatever, that I can pick up for around $200. That would leave me an upgrade option down the road for a 6 core, which would be a definite upgrade over the 4-core.

But is this irrelevant anyways? Am I hearing that even the 2600k beats the socket 1366 hex-cores, correct? That is good news to me, but the lack of ANY upgrade options on socket 1155 is what makes me kinda sad and gives me pause. While it would certainly be more than enough power for me now, if the only planned upgrades for socket 1155 are faster clocked 4-core i7s, then there really is no upgrade path, as I will be overclocking.

It seems to me that if the new intel Ivy Bridge chips beyond 4-core will require a new socket, then socket 1155 is just as much a dead-end socket as 1366 is.

So, what should I do? I want to build ASAP, want something with at least some upgrade potential in the future, and as good of performance as possible. And my budget will allow for around $300 or so on a CPU in this build. Thanks!
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What do you do with your computer?

Virtualization w/ lots of ram ? i7-950/960
If you do gaming and don't need vt-d or more than 16G ram go sandy bridge.
 
i never understood this, and i admit i never had a sandy bridge, and i havent really read up on it, but even with a 4.5ghz overclock, a 920 overclocked to 4ghz does better on benchmarks and and 3dmark and the such, so whats the appeal of sandy bridge? just a high oc number?
 
jjolin said:
i never understood this, and i admit i never had a sandy bridge, and i havent really read up on it, but even with a 4.5ghz overclock, a 920 overclocked to 4ghz does better on benchmarks and and 3dmark and the such, so whats the appeal of sandy bridge? just a high oc number?
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What benchmarks did you look at? From what I've seen the Sandy Bridge cpus beat the i7 9XX cpus at the same clock speed. Getting 4 Ghz from a 920 isn't the easiest thing, and the 2600k will run mid 4's with some getting up close to 5 Ghz.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20
Anand's review even had a 2600k beating a i7 980X at some things.
Sandy Bridge cpus use less power too.
 
koomba said:
I appreciate all the debate in this thread and it has given me some insight, but I haven't seen any comments dealing with my specific situation. What would you all recommend for someone going with a brand new build? Due to unfortunate circumstances the past few months, I currently have NO computer at all. I am looking to build ASAP, within a month or so, so waiting for Intel or AMD's upcoming platforms isn't really an option for me.

I am in general leaning towards a Sandy Bridge platform, probably the 2600k. I like the price of the 2500k obviously, but I don't want to give up the hyperthreading. The only thing that gives me pause and consider socket 1366 is my upgrade options. From what I have read recently, there are no plans for 6-core releases on socket 1155, correct? From what I understand, the SB 2600k beats most of the current 1366 hex core chips, correct? If I went with 1366, I would go for a deal, probably one of the sale chips, 950 or whatever, that I can pick up for around $200. That would leave me an upgrade option down the road for a 6 core, which would be a definite upgrade over the 4-core.

But is this irrelevant anyways? Am I hearing that even the 2600k beats the socket 1366 hex-cores, correct? That is good news to me, but the lack of ANY upgrade options on socket 1155 is what makes me kinda sad and gives me pause. While it would certainly be more than enough power for me now, if the only planned upgrades for socket 1155 are faster clocked 4-core i7s, then there really is no upgrade path, as I will be overclocking.

It seems to me that if the new intel Ivy Bridge chips beyond 4-core will require a new socket, then socket 1155 is just as much a dead-end socket as 1366 is.

So, what should I do? I want to build ASAP, want something with at least some upgrade potential in the future, and as good of performance as possible. And my budget will allow for around $300 or so on a CPU in this build. Thanks!
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Do you do anything that uses HyperThreading (games do not)? Do you do anything that uses more than 4 cores (games do not)? Do you spend enough of your time doing these things to justify the cost of a processor with HT over one without?

My brother and I both swapped to 2500ks. He sold his X58 setup for the same price as getting the new setup. I run the Corsair H70, he runs a hyper 212+. Both of us are at 5ghz linpack stable. I have the Asus P8P67 vanilla ($150), he has the gigabyte UD3 board ($130) - so unlike with previous generations of bus overclocking processors, it does not appear that the "quality" of the board has much to do with OC performance.

This is way more speed than you "need" (so is probably anything beyond a core 2 duo for sake or argument), but 5ghz is hard to beat if you play a lot of SC2, as we both do.

Like Robstar said, if you feel you need lots of virtualization or tons of ram, then gen 1 i7 it is, otherwise the choice should be fairly obvious.

Also, I have to wonder what comes next. If Intel (via Microcenter) is selling a quad core processor for $179 that will do 5ghz on air cooling, what follows in the next generation? 6ghz on the stock heatsink?
 
koomba said:
But is this irrelevant anyways? Am I hearing that even the 2600k beats the socket 1366 hex-cores, correct? That is good news to me, but the lack of ANY upgrade options on socket 1155 is what makes me kinda sad and gives me pause. While it would certainly be more than enough power for me now, if the only planned upgrades for socket 1155 are faster clocked 4-core i7s, then there really is no upgrade path, as I will be overclocking.
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I don't quite understand the logic here. If you go 1155, you can drop in a 22nm Ivy Bridge quad down the line. Based on Intel's previous die shrinks that means approximately 25% increase in max overclock + 10% increase in IPC. So about 37.5% increase in performance by upgrading down the line. That seems like a fairly reasonable upgrade path.
 
Toaster Oven said:
I don't quite understand the logic here. If you go 1155, you can drop in a 22nm Ivy Bridge quad down the line. Based on Intel's previous die shrinks that means approximately 25% increase in max overclock + 10% increase in IPC. So about 37.5% increase in performance by upgrading down the line. That seems like a fairly reasonable upgrade path.
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Yeah that might not have came across quite right in my post, I meant it more as a question. I was trying to ask what upgrades will be available for socket 1155? Will it just be slightly higher clocked 2xxxk CPUs? I'm not entirely clear on what Ivy Bridge products will be on socket 1155. I guess I didn't realize it would be that significant, a 25% increase in max overclock. So that answers my question there I think.

Also it sounds like Sandy Bridge is the way to go. That's what I had been gathering, but I just still wasn't sure. I guess what I was confused about was where I see people saying things like "oh sandy bridge isn't their enthusiast line, its just mainstream stuff!" and got the wrong impression.

After looking at motherboards as well, it seems like SB will be cheaper. And it sounds like everyone thinks SB performs better overall anyways, so that's ultimately what matters to me. To answer the question of what I do with my computer: high end gaming for the most part, and also some design work in Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, etc. I also do a fair amount of video encoding, which it seems always benefits more from more cores and/or threads.

I think I've pretty much been convinced SB is the way to go, as I don't do much virtualization, as that seems the only place that 1st gen i7 might have an edge. Thanks for the help everyone!

Oh, one more thing: so do we know if there will be over 4 core Ivy Bridge chips released on 1155? Since it sounds like the current SBs are faster than the 1st gen i7 6-cores anyways, it doesn't really matter to me anyways from a performance perspective. But I would still like to know just out of curiosity. :) Thanks!
 
QuiteSufficient said:
Do you do anything that uses HyperThreading (games do not)? Do you do anything that uses more than 4 cores (games do not)? Do you spend enough of your time doing these things to justify the cost of a processor with HT over one without?
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Oh and I wanted to ask you a question too, since everyone seems to be very knowledgeable regarding Sandy Bridge. How much of a difference exactly does HyperThreading make? I know its not any more actual physical cores, but does stuff like video encoding and image processing benefit greatly from it? I do use my computer for quite a bit of those things, so if HT is gonna significantly speed me up there, then I'd be willing to drop the extra $100 or so.
 
koomba said:
Oh, one more thing: so do we know if there will be over 4 core Ivy Bridge chips released on 1155? Since it sounds like the current SBs are faster than the 1st gen i7 6-cores anyways, it doesn't really matter to me anyways from a performance perspective. But I would still like to know just out of curiosity. :) Thanks!
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Intel repeatedly confirms that SNB-E (LGA2011) is the upgrade path for 6 core CPUs. Ivy Bridge will stay at 4 cores.
 
SonDa5 said:
Any over clocking on it yet? How does it compare to I7-930?
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Not yet. I am waiting on my H60...I got a new case too and am changing my cooling setup so it may be a little while before I push it.

I had my 930 @ 3.8. With the 950 at stock clocks it matched the OC'd 930 on WEI. I realize that doesn't mean much in and of itself but I believe its a good sign. It was finals week last week so I didn't have much time to do much comparison either.

This week I should have my cooling situation complete and have time for some benchies. PPBM5, BFBC2, Crysis, etc etc...

Having spent no money out of pocket after the sale of my 930 and some other random items I am very pleased.
 
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